Get to Know the Candidate: Casey Shepard — U.S. House, Texas District 17

Milam County, TX - Casey Shepard has spent his legal career in Central Texas courtrooms representing people who couldn't afford a lawyer. Now the Waco attorney is running for Congress in District 17 — redrawn in 2025 to include all of Milam County — on a promise to look out for the people he says Washington overlooks.

Who he is

Shepard is a seventh-generation Texan and a third-generation Central Texan. His grandfather, W. B. Shepard, settled on a farm in Hill County near Abbott in 1939, and his parents and his sister's family still live there today.

He graduated from Midway High School, outside Waco, in 1999, where success in public policy debate earned him a debate scholarship to a college in California. He went on to study law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, and in 2010 he came home to Waco to be closer to family.

Since 2011 he has practiced law in Central Texas, building a career in indigent criminal defense — representing clients without financial resources or institutional support, with a focus on due process, equal justice and constitutional protections. His campaign says his life's work has been "going toe-to-toe with a system built to silence people who can't afford a voice."

Shepard won the Democratic nomination the hard way: after finishing second in the March primary, he defeated Milah Flores in the May 26 runoff with about 60 percent of the vote.

What he stands for

"As a Central Texan, I've worked hard, looked out for my neighbors and expected the leaders in power to do the same," he said in announcing his campaign. "But it's clear that the folks in Washington don't share those priorities."

His campaign centers on three kitchen-table issues. On food access, he wants to strengthen SNAP and WIC, protect school breakfast and lunch programs, and support farm assistance programs. On health care, he would restore Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, restore and improve Medicaid, and back immigration reform that allows work permits for medical-field workers. On housing, he calls for restoring rental assistance, expanding subsidies for low-income housing construction, and ending tariffs on building supplies.

"Defending democratic institutions requires consistent attention to civil liberties and the rule of law," he said in his announcement. "But while doing that work, we must also look out for the most vulnerable among us."

District 17 voters will decide the race on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Early voting runs Oct. 19–30.